I can almost taste the lipstick peppers and smell the fiorentino tomatoes! can’t wait to get sowing….check out the Flashy Butter Oak Lettuce over at the brilliant www.realseeds.co.uk truly magnificent. …READ MORE…

I have just spent the last hour labelling and stacking all the pots of ink, I put this behaviour down to it being January and still too dark to head to the allotment. I am saving the plan chest for another day! …READ MORE…

I visited Westonbirt Arboretum to get my autumn colour fix. This is the hoard we came back with, the large brown leaves are my favourite for their leathery looks, the kids love the red and yellow maple leaves which they fashioned into fairy dresses! …READ MORE…

A half term trip up north to take in some art! Starting at the excellent Yorkshire Sculpture Park, great walks in sunny weather, a brilliant show by Juame Plensa and a extraordinary piece by Aeneas Wilder made up of stacked wood, very scary to go near in case you knock it down. Then onto the Hepworth Galley, where Clare Woods has a show on, nice rock formations! The final stop was at the Tuner Prize show at the Baltic, not that inspiring to be honest! Also on was a Mike Kelly show, which was scary scary stuff ! Then back down the M1. …READ MORE…

The kids have been busy today creating block prints for the first time! We used a thin craft foam to make the drawings and speedball water based ink to try and create a colour blend. It’s a really easy, addictive way for kids to get into printing with instant ‘WOW look what I did’ results. …READ MORE…